1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle electronic system and, more particularly, to a vehicle electronic system which can perform concentrated control of a cassette tape, CD, MD, and the like at a control panel.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,057 proposes an automotive electronic control unit which comprises a control panel for making control inputs and displays pertaining to a plurality of sound modules, a sound module selected from a plurality of types of sound modules, and a main module incorporating a radio tuner, and connects the control panel, sound module (only one module), and main module (incorporating a sound module) via a shared bus line, and in which the main module controls use of the shared bus line.
Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 9-289689 proposes a structure which has a control panel, which is common to a plurality of sound modules and performs concentrated control and display of these sound modules.
However, in the structure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,057, since the control panel, sound module, and main module are connected via the shared bus line, and signals are directly transmitted between, e.g., the control panel and sound module, the main module can only control the use state of the shared bus line, and cannot perform concentrated control of the entire vehicle electronic system that includes transmission of control signals and display signals.
In addition, since only two electronic control units can be placed on the side of the control panel opposite to the interior of the passenger room, the functions of the vehicle electronic system as a whole cannot be further expanded.
On the other hand, in the structure of Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 9-289689, a plurality of electronic control units are separately placed with respect to a control unit which performs concentrated control of these electronic control units, and a storage medium inserted into the electronic control unit is ejected into the passenger room through the electronic control unit. For this reason, a through hole must be formed on the electronic control unit, thus disturbing a cost reduction and space savings. In the structure of Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 9-289689, the plurality of electronic control units are not detachably connected via connectors. When these electronic control units are detached, the through hole becomes an idle space. Or when these electronic control units are replaced by other ones, and the size or insertion position of the storage medium changes, the electronic control unit must be replaced together with the control panel.